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State Sen. George Maziarz, a Western NY Republican (62nd SD) who was one of only three members of the Senate majority to vote for NYC Finance Commissioner Martha Stark during yesterday’s state comptroller vote, insisted today that he is not in ZOPA.

“I like Tom DiNapoli; I think he’s a good guy,” Maziarz said. “But I sat through all the interviews, and I thought (Stark) was most qualified.”

Maziarz is a member of the Senate Finance Committee, which, as you’ll recall, conducted those 17 hours worth of comptroller candidate interviews along with the Assembly Ways & Means Committee.

Maziarz, a former Niagara County clerk who came to the state Senate in 1995 after winning a special election, insisted his vote for Stark was not intended to curry favor with Gov. Eliot Spitzer in hopes of landing a job with the administration, nor a sign that he would be open to wooing by the Senate Democrats.

“I love being in the Senate, and I’m going to stay there a long time,” Maziarz said.

“I was born a Republican, I’m going to die a Republican,” he continued. “The worst thing in the world that could ever happen to the state of New York would be if the Senate went Democratic. It would shut the lights off upstate.”

Maziarz said he had publicly declared his support for Assemblyman Joe Morelle, D-Rochester, who was the only upstater in the running for the comptroller’s office. But by yesterday, Maziarz said, Morelle had made it clear he didn’t want to be nominated for the job, clearing the way for DiNapoli.

Before casting his vote for Stark, Maziarz said, he had a chat with Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, R-Brunswick, who, after hearingÂ the senator from Wheatfield out,Â reportedly said: “Fine. DoÂ what you want to do.”Â

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